Review: Bloody Elle - A Gig Musical, at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Fifteen and a half months... Fifteen and a half long months. Filled with online content, binging cast albums, doing stagey colouring, gossiping, etc etc, without ever stepping foot in my household...Until last night. 1st July, I got in my car after work, drove to Manchester, had a nightmare parking and paid WAY too much for it. 

All to come back to where I have missed most in this pandemic - the theatre. A REAL PHYSICAL BLOODY THEATRE PEOPLE!!!!

And the lucky one in question: The Royal Exchange, to support their first production back. Bloody Elle - A Gig Musical is a one-woman show performed and written by Lauryn Redding, currently having its world premiere at the favourite (of mine) venue, based on Redding's own experiences. 

Elle is a girl who lives in a working class high-rise in Manchester. "Life gets tough, she gets tougher; when life gets rough, she gets rougher". When she meets Eve at her job, Elle's word starts to turn upside down...

The first thing to take from this is that this is branded as A Gig Musical. And that's exactly what it is. It's a theatre show, a musical, a play with music - but it also feels like you're at a gig down the local pub, and I'm meaning that in more ways than one. 

First way is how the stage is set. It's only a small thing, just a black floor splashed with white paint like a Jackson Pollock painting. Dressed with only the bare essentials, but NOTHING is hidden: a couple of guitars, some mics with their cords, and loop pedals. Everything is on display for us to see. Around the stage, small bar tables and stools are place decorated with a simple tea-light in a candle holder. This has been used before in shows like Lady Day to give off that effect of intimacy in settings such as bars - and this is how it is worked best, in an intimate venue such as the Royal Exchange. 

Second is that Redding's writing is so honest, it feels just like she' having a heart to heart with you. A sort of story time (only a lot more adult and with pints). She's incredibly funny, but bears her heart out on the stage. Just like all the cables and pedals, Redding lays Elle's story out on the table for all of us to listen. Similar to Fun Home in that way. 

I'm sure that Elle (and I) would not have been alone in the fact that falling in love with someone for the first time is a, well.. interesting experience. Elle doesn't leave anything out: the awkwardness, the embarrassment, the elation, and the heartache when it doesn't go as well as you wanted it to. The layers she builds into her character are stunning, both in the writing, and in the music, using those loop pedals to their full advantage to create something both funny and often ethereal at the same time. 

One of the other things I really need to commend is the lighting. Mark Distin Webster did an incredible job on this - though Bloody Elle is a one-woman show, the lighting almost felt like another character in a way. Propping a position for where other characters would have been positioned, or spotlighting just like how it would have really been at a gig. There was one moment near the end (no spoilers, don't worry) in which the lighting could only have been described as pure magic - it was stunning!

"Did that really just happen?"

You may remember that's what Elphaba says just before she belts into The Wizard and I - and that's what I have been feeling all last night and today. 

During the pandemic, a lot of people have asked me this question: What will your first show back in a theatre be? 

Now in all honesty, while I of course had my list stuck on my wardrobe door, I didn't have a particular preference - but when thinking about it, I think this was the perfect one.

While it could well have been a big West End musical, I think there is something about being welcome back to the theatre by something small, something local, something Northern. It felt a lot more special in a way for me. Coming into the entrance from St Anne's Square and seeing that Audrey 2 puppet that they have on display (which I still rave about to this day), it felt so... right. 

Admittedly, this has not been the easiest blog to write, as I was trying to take in the experience as much as possible - and I realised that that was what made it so special. Redding took you along such a journey, you could just be swept in her story and take in the atmosphere in being a theatre in person - something a larger show may have a harder time doing. 

What I think made Bloody Elle so perfect for my first show back was: 

1. It was something small and welcoming - a breath of fresh air like In The Heights was
2. It was a play AND a musical AND a gig all rolled into one - covers all bases there
3. I was going on my own, so I didn't need to worry about embarrassing anyone if I got a bit emotional

Plus the £7 tickets helped!! I'm not 30 yet!!

Bloody Elle is running at the Royal Exchange until 17th July - it is being put up online at some point soon, but if you are in the Northern area, I would recommend coming into Manchester and seeing it in person. It deserves every single standing ovation it is likely to receive - just like the one it got last night.